ms spreads them in the form of a lake over the
valley-ground between two hills, is formed by the action of storms from
the south-west. Such, at least, is the modern explanation of the manner
in which Loo Bar has been heaped up. But there is an ancient legend in
connexion with it, which, tells a widely different story.

It is said that the terrible Cornish giant, or ogre, Tregeagle, was
trudging homewards one day, carrying a huge sack of sand on his back,
which--being a giant of neat and cleanly habits--he designed should
serve him for sprinkling his parlour floor. As he was passing along the
top of the hills which now overlook Loo Pool, he heard a sound of
scampering footsteps behind him; and, turning round, saw that he was
hotly pursued by no less a person than the devil himself. Big as he was,
Tregeagle lost heart and ignominiously took to his heels: but the devil
ran nimbly, ran steadily, ran without losing breath--ran, in short,
_like_ the devil. Tregeagle was fat, short-winded, had a load on his
back, and lost ground at every step. At last, just as he reached the
seaward extremity of the hills, he determined in despair to lighten
himself of his burden, and thus to seize the only chance of escaping his
enemy by superior fleetness of foot. Accordingly, he opened his huge
sack in a great hurry, shook out all his sand over the precipice,
between the sea and the river which then ran into it, and so formed in a
moment the Bar of Loo Pool.

In the winter time, the lake is the cause and the scene of an
extraordinary ceremony. The heavy incessant rains which then fall (ice
is almost unknown in the moist climate of Cornwall), increase day by day
the waters of the Pool, until they encroach over the whole of the low
flat valley between Helston and the sea. Then, the smooth paths of
turf, the little streams that run by their side--so pleasant to look on
in the summer time--are hidden by the great overflow. Mill-wheels are
stopped; cottages built on the declivities of the hill are threatened
with inundation. Out on the bar, at high tide, but two or three feet of
sand appear between the stormy sea on the one hand, and the stagnant
swollen lake on the other. If Loo Pool were measured now, it would be
found to extend to a circumference of seven miles.

When the flooding of the lake has reached its climax, the millers, who
are the principal sufferers by the overflow, prepare to cut a passage
through the Bar for the superabundant w